Belrad Universe #6

Hear an unedited recording of the broadcast: www.associatedcontent.com/audio/2027/belrad_universe_show_6.html

Hello, everyone and welcome to Belrad Universe!

It's January 21st, 2008, and I'm your host, Bryan Belrad. It's Martin Luther King Day, and it's freezing all across the nation, so grab yourself a cup of hot coco, and let's have ourselves a little chat.
I'd like to start out this week by remembering Dr. King and his dream. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of a world of equality for all. Looking back, forty years after his assassination, it is wonder how different the world is today - yet, in so many ways, still the same.
People wonder how the issue of segregation, which King so virtuously fought against, could even be considered controversial. We understand that racism then was far more prevalent, and far less subtle, than it is today. But, even so, how could people not see that the practice was so obviously wrong?

The answer might prove shocking. Simply put, most people never really thought about it.

How could an issue so big as that one go unnoticed by so many people for so long?

The answer to that can be seen right under every one of our noses. In a very real way, segregation still exists, utterly unchallenged, today, in a strikingly similar form. It isn't a practice of racial discrimination that our society has become oblivious to, but a sexual one. It is the elephant caving in the roof, and very few of us even know it's there.

There is a nearly universal segregation in our society that runs along gender lines. Everywhere we go, there are "separate but equal" facilities for men and women, running the gamut from bathrooms to locker rooms to those little closets in department stores where you get to try on clothes. Even many schools, to this day, are for men only or women only.

Now, racial segregation was a much more vicious beast, and no one should get the idea that it was no big deal, like "merely" having to use a toilette with a certain kind of symbol on it. But, by looking at today's gender-based segregation, we can get something of a sense for what the people four decades ago were thinking - or, rather, weren't thinking - about racial segregation.

How often does the fact that men and women have separate facilities cross your mind? It was much the same with black and white facilities back then. It simply was the way things were, and not many people paid it any mind at all.

What reasons, really, do we have for having separate bathrooms? Are we so childish that we don't want to catch cooties from a toilette seat that a member of the opposite sex might have sat on?

What justifications as do come to mind don't hold up when really thought through. We have separate locker rooms because of modesty; we don't want people leering at our unclothed behinds. But, what about homosexuals? Or bi-sexuals, trans-sexuals, and others?

These groups may make up only a minority of the population, but there are a far larger percentage of homosexuals in today's world than there were blacks in 1968.

What Dr. King did that made him a legend was more than charisma and charm. He made people think about things that they didn't want to think about. He made others see the light, and consider ideas in a new way that many had never even thought of before.

Is there any rational, valid reason to keep men and women segregated in today's age of "equality"? No. But we do it because we don't want to question the status quo. We do it because that's the way it's always been, and we never even think of doing it another way. We never even consider what this kind of division means for our society, or, if we do, we don't want to stir up a controversy - especially since nobody really seems to care.

So too was it in 1968. Dr. King joined with other black leaders, and stood up to the apathy of society. He understood that the majority weren't trying to 'keep the black man down', that black and white Americans were AMERICANS, first and foremost.

Though there were those who hated him for what he said and did, for questioning their authority, their "wisdom", and their infallibility, Dr. King knew that those few bigots were the exception in a larger society that really did believe that "All men were created equal."

Sharing bathrooms, schoolrooms, or board rooms doesn't really matter in the larger scope of things. But the symbolism of it, the enforced separation of two peoples, represented the subjugation and oppression of an entire race.

Martin Luther King was dedicated to doing what he believed was truly right, not just for the black race, but for all Americans. As Abraham Lincoln himself once said, "A house divided cannot stand."

Dr. King saw what few others did. And he did something about it. And he died for it.

It is not for his accomplishments towards racial equality, nor for his accomplishments towards social equality, or even his Dream that all Americans could one day see each other as they truly are, as brothers and sisters, that we honor him by celebrating his birthday. It for all these things and more, but, most of all, because he was a brave man who took action on behalf of good, and right, and justice.

We do not remember him today because he was a Black leader, or because he was a famous Black man. We honor his memory because he was a hero - to all Americans, and the kind of person we all should like to be.

Yet, the seeds of fairness, equality, and justice for all have not taken root in the hearts of everyone. This week, a story surfaced concerning hateful attacks on Oprah Winfrey by... feminists.
As everyone expected, the women who support Hillary are in an uproar over Oprah's landmark stand in favor of Barack Obama. The message boards and comment pages on Oprah's website are becoming clogged with venomous accusations of the daytime diva's "treason" and "bigotry".
One commenter, austaz68 said, "For the first time in history we actually have a shot at putting a woman in the White House and Oprah backs the black MAN. She's choosing her race over her gender."

The symptoms are obvious. Since these women are so bigoted themselves in favor of Hillary - entirely because she happens to be female - they assume that Oprah is also guilty of bigotry. But, since it's not their brand of bigotry, she is a traitor to the cause.

Never mind that Oprah's message has always been one of hope for the future, and having a positive outlook. Never mind that Barack is campaigning on that very platform, a natural match. Oprah must be a closet racist!

As Orson Scott Card points out, in his novel Empire, it is typical of today's political society that we are so overburdened with rhetoric, so prejudiced towards our own preferred views, that we are able only to see the bias in the other side.

Of course, this 'woman-first, woman-all' reaction makes sense on another level. Since Oprah's real reason for supporting Obama has nothing whatsoever to do with race, but only with his positive message, then it stands to reason that only those people who advocate a negative outlook on life would oppose her efforts with such hateful, vicious messages.

Psychologically, a positive person would want to think the best of Oprah's motives, so would want to hear what there is to be said about the matter before deciding whether or not to crucify her. A negative person prefers to see what is wrong with the world, and, thus, would see Oprah's actions as tantamount to bailing out on the feminist cause.

There's a lesson in this: a positive person is more prone to having an open mind. Negative folk would rather ignore petty things like reason and fact, and simply go on a rampage for any perceived wrong enacted against their illusionary view of the world.

In a very scary way, these events demonstrate Card's point startlingly well. He calls this narrow-minded philosophy of political views "madness," and points out that both sides of extremists, both right and left, have it. And he's not wrong.

One would think that the feminist movement would be a group filled with hope. They want equal rights, fair play, and an even field. They would work to bring about meaningful, positive change in the world to make that happen.

One might even suspect that they would, of their nature, seek equality for all - not just between men and women. Unfair fairness just isn't fair, and doesn't make much sense either.

Yet, that very assumption of a positive attitude seems to be entirely wrong. These people who are attacking Oprah clearly have no interest in equality for all, or want anything to do with Barack's message of hope for a better future. They just want a woman. And they will be as hateful and spiteful and unfair as they need to be to further their agenda.

If the American Gladiator star Helga ran for President, they'd back her over Obama too. Because she's a woman, and that is ALL that matters.

It really is madness to accuse Oprah of such abject bias when she is, in fact, continuing to support the very same endeavors that these women claim to be in favor of. They put the lie to their own doctrine, showing all the world that they don't want 'equality', they want superiority. Women first. Women all.

So forget the issues. Forget your own principles. Women have to support Hillary because she is a woman. To ignore that fact is to put an unfair level of "fairness" on the election.

Sorry, ladies; you can't expect anyone to pay attention to your fight against sexism when you are sexist yourself. Either you are hypocrites, or, as Card suggests, insane. Most probably, the sad fact is a little bit of both.

But most tragic of all, by embracing an acidic view, full of the rhetoric of negativity, against anyone who actually does represent REAL equality or fairness, your work has become one of building a bitter, not better, tomorrow.

I'll give Steve Hargrove of Vienna the last word on this: "Shame on any woman for supporting a candidate for president for no other reason than she has no penis. So be it. If she wins, I pray she has balls."

Yes, I know, I'm going to get hate mail for that. What can I say? People really dislike it when they're caught being stupid.

In fact, I've gotten a few already from the article form of that piece. One reader comments, "This is just like those liberals. They say one thing, then do the other. They have nothing to say but hate and spite. The true conservatives never say such negative things. Only the liberals. Anyone who would join them is either a traitor or a moron."

As Card says, there are far too many of us infected with a kind of extremist madness, where we can only see the hypocrisy and stupidity of the other side, never our own bias. As the comment illustrates. God knows, saying that the side that isn't yours utters nothing but hate isn't a negative message, or hateful. So, I'm fed up with both the liberals and the conservatives right at the moment.

Instead, I'd like to talk about video games. Yes, strange as it might sound, there can actually be some real benefit to playing them.

Now, many of us feel that video games, like writing books and articles, or even hosting a talk show, is nothing but a huge waste of time. Video games are often blamed for promoting violence in our society, and creating all manner of social ills. However, one story from this week puts the lie to all that absolutist nonsense.

Paxton Galvanek had absolutely no medical experience at all. He wasn't a doctor, nurse, or EMT. He hadn't even taken a first-aid course - ever. Yet, when he witnessed an SUV go off the highway and roll, he sprang into action like a field medic.

He removed the victims from the vehicle safely, prioritized the wounds, and began treating the injured men while his wife dialed 9 1 1. One of the victims had severed fingers with uncontrolled bleeding, so he used a towel to stem the flow, elevated the hand, and told the victim to keep pressure on it.

He likewise detected, and treated, several other minor wounds

Where did Paxton get these amazing abilities, having never so much as applied more than a band-aid in his life? Paxton is an avid gamer, and his favorite at the moment is America's Army - the game put out by the U S army as a "recruiting tool."

It seems that shameless propaganda can actually do some real-world good from time to time. The game features a medic training section, which Paxton passed. He learned how to treat real injuries from playing a video game.

This isn't so far-fetched as it might seem. The military and NASA, along with most commercial airlines, use flight simulators to help train their pilots. Is this really that much different?

Likewise, people have long been able to learn things - even pick up skills - from reading books. Strange as it may seem, even these archaic devices can serve more purpose than leveling somebody's lopsided coffee table.

So, that's an inspirational tale for today. Here's a few noteworthy stories that are - somewhat less so.

On Thursday, a Hawian child was hurled from a highway overpass, some 30 feet up, into the heavy traffic below. According to witnesses, the not-quite two-year-old was struck by at least two cars after landing.

Medical examiners determined that Cyrus Belt, whose 2nd birthday would have been next month, died from "multiple blunt force injuries due to fall from height."

Police arrested a neighbor of the child, a 23-year-old. Charges are pending.

The man was reportedly holding Cyrus over his head on a pedestrian overpass, and then dropped him. He struck the pavement at over 20 miles per hour. Unable to avoid a collision, at least two vehicles then ran him over.

The unidentified assailant was wearing green hospital scrubs at the time. While being arrested, he screamed, "Thank you!" to reporters, and rocked himself in the back of a police car.

A police spokesperson said he was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. The police did not yet know if he had a history of mental illness or a criminal record.

How exactly the man got ahold of the child is still being investigated. According to Cyrus's mother, Nancy Chanco, "He was strange ... not all there." She said she would never let the neighbor take care of Cyrus.

The suspect seemed obsessed with Cyrus. Chanco said, "He always tried to hold the baby."

"How can somebody do that?" she asked of reporters.

She has two other children, a boy of 16, and another son, 5.

Mourners are already visiting the site. On Friday, balloons and stuffed animals covered the wall of the walkway where Cyrus was killed.

And, in Alaska, a girl of 13 was arrested for touching boys.

Young girls are sometimes into unusual hobbies. Some ride ponies. Some collect stamps. Some volunteer in soup kitchens.

One girl, a 13-year-old, from Sutton Alaska, though, apparently likes boys - a little too much.

On January 9th, Palmer Police Det. Kelly Turner was called to Palmer Junior Middle School to investigate a sexual assault. Because all the involved parties are juveniles, few details have been made available, but this is what is known:

Two boys claimed that the girl in question touched them over their clothing on the school bus. In separate statements, they asserted that they told their assailant to stop repeatedly, but she refused to do so.

Turner ended up arresting the girl.

Police generally have wide discretion in a case like this. According to police, the most severe action was warranted in this case.

The girl was charged with two counts of second-degree harassment, one count of second-degree sexual assault for each victim, and attempted second-degree sexual assault.

Police issued a statement, saying that while they could not reveal any specifics of the evidence that they collected, the facts justified the most extreme measures available: incarcerating the girl.

Detective Turner says he is aware of what the public is saying about the arrest of a such a young girl. Needless to say, many members of the community are quite upset.

However, "If you have an instance where a behavior is occurring and another person, whether it be an adult or a juvenile, and that behavior is asked to cease and that behavior continues ... you have to follow through on that."

To be truly fair, though, police have to ignore the gender of the suspect. Turner explained: "Reverse the genders and if a boy ... touches a girl inappropriately on the school bus, and the school district and the police don't take action, can you imagine the outcry there would be?"

Again, because of the age of the girl and the two boys involved, the details are not being released. The girl is being held in the Mat-Su Youth Facility, and, as of Wednesday, no bail had been set.

And, to wrap up the highlights for this week, here's a story about this week's most significant scientific breakthrough.
Headline: Man Clones Himself

In one of the most controversial breakthroughs in years, a California scientist has cloned himself, the first-ever report of a human clone being created from an adult.

Humans have been cloned before, but all the previous efforts have been focused on embryos. Never has a fully viable human undergone the procedure.

Using the same technology that brought the world Dolly the sheep, Samuel Wood created genetic duplicates of himself by extracting the DNA from his skin cells, and implanting it into a woman's egg.

The embryonic clones were only kept for five days before they were harvested for stem cells, a process that destroys an embryo.

All previous stem cells lines were created using other stem cells. It is an understatement to say it is 'difficult' to manipulate an adult cell, one already matured into a specialized form, to revert to a stem cell state. Ethics aside, the achievement is beyond merely remarkable.

Stem cells are used in research geared towards developing treatments - or even cures - for numerous diseases, including Parkinson's, M.S., Alzheimer's, and Diabetes, among others.

Stem cells are invaluable tools, not just for research, but for medical treatments. They each possess the capability to become any kind of cell, form any tissue, in the whole of the human body.

Now that humanity has the capability to produce a stem cell line from a fully viable individual, possibly one who actually suffers from one of these disorders, the quest to find answers has taken a vast leap forward.

Cloned embryonic stem cells have the advantage of being perfect genetic matches to their donors. Meaning, among other things, that any tissues or organs grown from them will be rejection-proof: they literally are the same as the donor's original organs.

But the moral implications are not to be overshadowed. Many critics accuse Dr. Wood of paving the way for the mass-production of designer humans, or, possibly, laying the foundation of a 'spare parts' industry.

Also, because embryos are destroyed in the harvesting process, segments of the population are in an uproar over the matter. Many see the practice as killing a human in order to experiment on the corpse.

This is an especially touchy issue in this case. Since the clones are genetic duplicates of humans who are clearly viable, there can be no question that, if allowed to follow their due course, and barring a miscarriage, the embryos would definitely develop into fully functional, living humans.

With other stem cell lines, the question of viability leans towards positive, but there is no certain answer. In this case, there is. Scientists are artificially creating human life with the specific intent to destroy it, a concept that opponents find rather more than repugnant.

"We have people creating human beings with the intention of destroying them. That's appalling," said John Smeaton, of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. "We have got scientists wandering around in an ethical wilderness, forgetting about matters of justice relating to our fellow human beings."

The Vatican is also taking a stand against the practice, condemning it as the "worst type of exploitation of the human being."

The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics called the creation and destruction of human embryos "extremely offensive to millions."

But spokespeople on the other side of the debate don't see the matter that way. Many argue that the clones, like all early embryos, aren't technically "alive." What's more, since they are created to do research, their destruction is irrelevant. They would not exist at all, if not for the purpose of the research.

There is no capacity for pain, no awareness to feel loss or death, and, most importantly, they are literally the tissue of an adult, and therefore that person's property. Some would even say they are, by extension, a part of that person's own body.

"Nobody tells me I can't get a tattoo, because it might 'damage some cells'," a blogger writes.

But the crux of the argument rests on the concept of 'the greater good'. Is it right to destroy a potential life - even one created specifically for research - if it will help countless people living with a debilitating or life-threatening disease?

Is ending what could be a person's life an acceptable cost, when not doing so places millions in jeopardy? And is this even a question that should be reduced to a 'lesser of two evils' argument?

While the controversy rages on, the fact remains: humans have crossed an important threshold. There is no going back. The clones have arrived.

So, to help us address this in full, we've invited our science advisor, Dr. Bhoomnocher Soxov to discuss the implications.

Dr. Soxov, what are your feelings on this story? Which is more important, morality or science?

(Mmm, morality made up by society, it is. Science holds true always.)

So, do you believe that humans should be able to destroy their own clones for research?

(Of course. Cut off their own fingers, they can, if it so pleases them.)

What about embryos in general? Should we be able to destroy them for research as well? Or for any other reason?

(Abortion, you mean?)

Well, that too, I suppose?

(Mmm, answer that I cannot. Concerned only with what can or cannot be done, science is, not questions of should or should not.)

What about from a personal standpoint? I realize you're only qualified as an authority on matters of science, but, surely, you must have an informed opinion on the matter.

(Yes.)

Well, would you care to share it?

(mmm. Some cheese I would like.)

But... Doctor!

(Yes?)

What about embryos?!

(No, not so good with cheese.)

Well... That's Dr. Soxov. Thank you Doctor, we'll see you next week.

Now, for a pointless, stupid riddle. Of course, my family and friends, and everyone involved with the show, aren't eligible to answer - you've already heard me tell it. I will give you all a hint, though. There is only one correct answer, and for a very specific reason.

Email in your answers to Show@BelradUniverse.com, and we'll select one winner to receive a free copy of my novel, Rage of Night, "The best debut novel - ever," according to Amazon.com.

So here it is: What is the difference between a human and a centaur? Once again, email those answers to Show@BelradUniverse.com

For your UFO tale, here's a strange sighting actually made the press:

Dozens of people in the Texas town of Stephenville reported seeing a large object with bright lights flying silently at very low altitude on January 8th. The reports, which include statements from a professional pilot, a county sheriff, and several reputable business owners, state that the object was only about 300 feet up in the air, and was being pursued by fighter jets.

The nearest military installation, in Ft. Worth, said they had no fighters in the air that night.

The pilot, Steve Allen, says, "Everyone is afraid it's the end of times."

Erath County Constable Lee Roy Gaitan said, "It wasn't an airplane, and I've never seen anything like it. It must be some kind of military craft - at least, I hope it was."

In other news, police in Maine seized a winning lottery ticket, claiming it was purchased with drug money. On the opposite end, a judge ruled this week that a man who violated his parole by purchasing a lottery ticket can keep his winnings: $1,000,000. Incidentally, he was on parole from a conviction for bank robbery.

Researchers have discovered a self-destructing tree in Madagascar. This new speicies was only just identified because of its curious habit of flowering, then dying - for 100 years.

For the first time since 1975, we're getting close-up pictures of Mercury. NASA's MESSENGER probe has made contact, and sent us over a thousand new pictures, special delivery.

The entire nation has had terrible weather lately, and most of the country is going to stay frozen and miserable for at least another week. But the crappiest weather in the land award goes to Fulton, NY. In two solid days of snow, Fulton racked up over five feet in some areas. The snow was so heavy, in a literal kind of way, that the roof of the city's DPW building collapsed under all the weight.

The irony is that the Department of Public Works are the guys who remove snow from things.

Now, for your letters. Got something you want to talk about? A strange story, a comment, or think I'm an idiot? Write and tell me why, and we'll do our best to look into it here. Once again, that email is Show@BelradUniverse.com

First up, we've got quite a few comments this time.

Concerning my article about division by zero, which involves Black Holes, Bartholomew writes: "Can you cite the source that tells you that a Black Hole has infinite density? If a Black Hole had infinite density, wouldn't it also have an infinite gravitational curve? Thus, wouldn't everything have been sucked into it long ago? The way I've always seen it, division by zero is impossible because you can't slice an object into pieces and have the result 'there are no pieces of the object.' Division by zero isn't a conundrum because of some flaw in math, it is a bit of nonsense yielded say-able through the power of language, yet just as inane as, say, 'the brown dog submarine plunged romeo five.'"

Well, then. First, for sources about a Black Hole's infinite density: Try looking up Einstein, Hawking, Feynmann, NASA, and pretty much every physics department or scholar on the planet.

Second, no, infinite density does not automatically yield infinite gravity. Density is mass divided by volume. Gravity is a function of mass alone. So, a little bit of 3rd grade math should tell you that the Black Hole's gravity will remain exactly the same as long as its mass does. If it weighs X, it's gravity will be Y. You can do anything you like to the volume, and thus alter the density, and it will not change the gravity any more than I, and others like me, putting knowledge on the Internet will cause you to become any smarter.

Now, if you'd actually read my article instead of just the headline, you'd know that I bring up that 'slice the apple' scenario. Yes, you can't cut an apple into zero pieces. In fact, you can't even slice something negative one times - does that mean that the number -1 can't exist either?

As I say in the article, we get hung up on the 'how' of the concept of division by zero, so we never really get the 'what happens'. Granted, in reality, division by zero can only be accomplished in very specific circumstances - like, say, when a Black Hole forms. Likewise, multiplication only works in certain operations. You can't "multiply" a single apple either - unless, of course, you plant it and grow yourself a tree.

Moving on...

About last week's moron-award winners, the two guys who brought their dead friend to a check-cashing store to try to steal his Social Security money: there've been quite a few emails that asked, 'didn't anybody stop these two guys with a corpse? If Cintron was so obviously dead, didn't anybody notice while they were on the way?'

Well, I can only speculate, but I think it's just a New York thing. Apparently, people there are very good at minding their own business, to the exclusion of common sense. Some areas are so apathetic that you can actually carry a dead guy down the street, and no one will say a word!

On the new business end of things, Barb writes in with a warning about a new scam sweeping the country. This is verified with the FBI. What happens is the scammer calls you up and says an arrest warrant has been issued for you for skipping out on jury duty. You probably say you've never gotten a notification of jury duty, to which the scammer replies, 'give me your ssn and date of birth, so I can confirm.'

Of course, the whole point is to get that info to steal your identity. The word is that these scammers can be quite intimidating on the phone, so you're best bet is to just hang up on them. Don't worry about the call being legit - the office of jurors, or whatever it's called in your area, don't generally call people to tell them they're about to be arrested.

Just fill out your jury forms, and tell these guys to bugger off.

Marty from L.A. has sent us a news report out of southern California that turned out to be right on target. Apparently, today two planes had a catastrophic mid-air collision, killing all four people aboard. The debris from the aircraft showered homes and businesses below. One man, who was in a car dealership at the time, was struck by falling plane parts and killed.

Barbara (a different one), brings us word of a follow up to the enormously popular Lord of the Rings movies - the Hobbit, coming soon to screens near you.

New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson have teamed up again, and are plotting to bring you There and Back Again in a two-part mega-film. No word yet on cast, or how the movies will be broken up, but the studio has said that the first of the pair is slated to be released in 2010, the sequel, in 2011. Filming will begin next year.

And, finally, to the 112 people who wrote, saying, "You're going to burn in hell for saying (blank)." Thanks for writing. Keep listening to hear more stuff that will piss you off. God knows, you wouldn't want to just not listen to something that offends you so much - like facts, or reason, for example.
When, or, more precisely, if, you come up with something intelligent to say, let me know. We'll talk then.

And now it's time to wrap things up. Before we go, I need to give a big congrats to Amber and Allen, who tied the knot on Wednesday. Allen's shipping off to be an army boy, and, to stay together, they had to get official in a hurry. Well, best of luck to you two. Your world is going to change more than you can imagine, but, as long as you both keep trying to make your lives better and happier, you're on the right track.

That's all for this time. Remember, if you have a story you want to share, a question to ask, or have an idea burning its way through your skull, let us know, and we'll see if we can't look into next time, on Belrad Universe.

Until then, stay safe, everyone.